A variety of power semiconductor modules are known and used in many different electronic devices. A requirement of these power electronic modules is to provide a suitable reliability as well as security.
Power semiconductor modules may have lifetimes of up to thirty years in operation, for example for traction applications. Therefore, intensive qualification tests are required to qualify power modules according to these requirements. The detection of a plurality of parameters may thus be advantageous during qualification tests in order to better understand module behaviour and failure physics.
On the other hand, the supervision of physical parameters in power modules during operation may be used as a precursor for a failure and can therefore be used for further reliability diagnostics and prognostics. Therefore, critical modules may be removed and replaced before failure.
Known from DE 10 2012 216 774 A1, CN 201708690 U, JP 2004087871 A, and JP 2006108256 A is to provide a module with a sensor for detecting parameters of said module.
Further, known from US 2011/0168223 A1, JP2003179230 A, and JP 2008061375 is to provide a thermoelectric element for power harvesting in a module.
Further in “Small-scale energy harvesting through thermoelectric, vibration, and radiofrequency power conversion”, N. S. Hudak et al, Journal of applied Physics, American Institute of Physics, vol. 103, 2008, an energy harvest device to harvest energy from sensors' environment is disclosed.
Moreover, EP 1 455 391 A1 discloses a semiconductor module with a housing and with a sensor element being arranged inside the housing, whereby the sensor element is a temperature sensor.
However, the reliability of power semiconductor modules still has potential for improvements.